Exclusive: Lovefilm PS3 movie streaming is on the way, that much is now public knowledge – though a release date was missing from both company’s official announcements. Not to fear though: we’ve just got off the phone with Lovefilm’s group digital officer, who’s given us the lowdown on launch plans and more details on how it’ll work – and what else might be in the pipeline. Read on for the full skinny.

We’ve just spoken to Lesley Mackenzie, Lovefilm’s group digital officer, about Lovefilm PS3 streaming and how it’ll work. She confirmed that as we expected, you’ll only be able to stream movies already available as free for subscribers, rather than rent more recent blockbuster as la carte, so as not to clash with Sony’s own (actually impressive) movie service for the PS3 in the UK.

Mackenzie also confirmed that the Lovefilm PS3 streaming will be switched on before 2010 is out. “We wouldn’t be announcing it if it wasn’t going to come soon…we would expect it this year,” she told us.

Interestingly, the design of Lovefilm on the PS3 is actually different to that on already supported Sony Bravia internet TVs, as you can see in the screenshot above – surprising, since Sony tries to keep its XMB UI consistent throughout its devices these days.

“It’s very different, more like the browser based version for Samsung TVs…but redeveloped for the PS3.” HD streaming is still a no go, alas, but Mackenzie says image improvements have been made, and that people will be “surprised at the quality of the pictures”.

Needless to say, we asked Mackenzie about plans on rival consoles and devices (We broke the news that Lovefilm had a Wii in its testing room earlier this year), but she declined to comment on any official plans, including regarding the Boxee Box – whose manufacturer, D-Link, revealed to us last week that a Lovefilm app was on the way. We certainly wouldn’t take that as a bad sign for the most part: Mackenzie did go on to say that Lovefilm wants “to be across as many platforms as possible”.

One that might not be on that list however is the new Apple TV. Netflix, which runs a similar subscription film streaming service in the US, is supported on the new tiny streaming box, but there’s no equivalent over here yet. “I actually haven’t looked at it yet,” Mackenzie told us when we asked about the possibility of Lovefilm bolstering the weak Apple TV line up here in the UK.

So there you go: fingers crossed, Lovefilm PS3 streaming is just the start. We’ll bring you more as soon as we get it, and a preview just as soon as we can.

Are you excited about Lovefilm arriving on the PS3? Sticking with iTunes on your Apple TV? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Can't wait to get started. The PS3 Ultimate box just got better still.

TheNash

I like the sound of this!The make or break features for me will be pre-downloading and 720p minimum. My net connection is too flaky to hold a video stream without stopping to buffer so I HAVE to be able to cache it first then watch it in delicious HD

bensillis

We're sorry to say it won't be HD – Lovefilm has confirmed that to us. As for the extent it caches it – I'm not sure just yet.